The emotional impact of alcohol has been recognized as a key to understanding alcohol use. Our studies are based on a series of hypotheses which essentially view alcohol use as a means of compensating for unpreferred emotional states, or achieving more preferred emotional states -- whether the initial states be induced by environmental conditions, life style, or whether they be associated with temperamental variables. To this end, our research has progressed along several complementary lines: (1) development of a set of three basic and orthogonal measures for the description of emotional states which may also be used to describe the emotional impact of settings, (2) development of a set of orthogonal measures to describe temperament (characteristic emotional states) and to explore relationships between temperamental variables and habitual patterns of alcohol consumption, (3) development of a questionnaire measure of habitual alcohol use which yields an overall index of alcohol dependence, (4) exploration of the impact of situations which systematically vary in their emotional impact on actual and reported alcohol consumption levels, and (5) study of the effects of stress, as induced by life changes, on alcohol use. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Mehrabian, A. Public places and private spaces: The psychology of work, play, and living environments. New York: Basic Books, 1976. Russell, J.A., & Mehrabian, A. Evidence for a three-factor theory of emotions. Journal of Research in Personality, 1977, 11, in press.